The invention relates to a household appliance, in particular a dishwasher, having at least one packing element disposed on a side face of the household appliance, the household appliance having at least one load-bearing structural part disposed in the uncovered region of the side face, for example a treatment container, or a carrying or support element.
Household appliances are generally packed at the factory and stored or delivered to customers as packages. Such packing is known from DE 44 46 961 C2, wherein corner pads made of Styropor are provided as individual pieces on the corner regions of the dishwasher. The corner pads are held by shrink wrap for example, which is wrapped tightly round the household appliance.
During the storage and transportation of such packages, when standard forklift trucks are used, external clamping forces are introduced into the dishwasher by way of the packing elements. In order to prevent damage to the household appliance in this process, according to DE 44 46 961 C2 force-absorbing parts are disposed on the load-bearing structural parts, which contribute to the rigidity and dimensional stability of the household appliance. They are disposed between the load-bearing part, for example a frame delimiting the loading opening or the wash container, and a housing side wall. As the external clamping forces are introduced, they are introduced by way of the external packing element and the housing side wall into the inner force-absorbing part, which transfers the external forces to the load-bearing structural part without other assemblies in the household appliance being damaged in the process.
The force path thus provided comprises a number of components, including the external packing element, the housing side wall, the inner force-absorbing part and the load-bearing structural part. The force-absorbing part is produced as a single component and matched in a complex production process to the contour of the load-bearing structural part and has to be fitted to the load-bearing structural part in an additional assembly stage.